A TEAM of midwives and pharmacists at the University of Glamorgan has won one of the UK’s top midwifery prizes.

Grace Thomas, Dr Simon Young and Debbie Lucy scooped the Johnson’s Baby award for Excellence in Midwifery Education at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Annual Awards.

The group received the award for their work with the Medicines and Midwives (MaM) project, at a ceremony attended by the RCM’s general secretary Cathy Warwick and broadcaster Natasha Kaplinsky.

The winning entry was an educational package aiming to reduce drug administration errors.

Using “turning point” technology – including giving students individual “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” type handsets for answering multiple choice questions – clinical simulation scenarios were developed to reflect common medicine administration situations with pregnant or postnatal women.

These scenarios were filmed and edited to be interspersed with questions which students answered via their handsets.

Sarah Fleury, professional communications manager for Johnson & Johnson, said: “It’s so important to recognise the central role of education in enhancing midwifery skills and capabilities, and in bringing the best evidence based practice into the daily care that midwives provide to mothers and their babies.

“This award is about acknowledging those who are passionate and committed to making a difference to midwifery education and practice.

“We especially congratulate the winning entry from the University of Glamorgan, where Grace and her team displayed such innovation and focus on developing an interactive educational tool for future midwives.”

Grace Thomas said: “We are delighted to have won this RCM Award. It really is an honour to have our work highlighted at this level.

“We have really enjoyed the opportunity to share the MaM project and really hope that we can collaborate with other universities to further develop this work.”